DEFENSE COMMUNITIES 360

Utah Officials Push Back against Air Force Restructuring

Hill Air Force Base will lose an estimated 261 workers over the next year following last week’s announcement that the Air Force will cut 9,000 civilian positions, but Utah officials are focusing on the long-term uncertainty the Air Force’s move creates.

“It doesn’t appear to us this is the end of it,” Tage Flint, president of the Utah Defense Alliance told Deseret News.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R) and the state’s congressional delegation vowed to reverse the plan. “The fight’s not over. This has just begun,” Herbert said.

Many officials were upset about that they had no input in the decision, the paper reported. “From our perspective, we look at this as a base closure or base realignment that did not go through the federal process,” said Rick Mayfield, chief operating officer for the defense alliance.

The move also raises the question as to whether the Air Force will continue to support Falcon Hill Research Park, a 2 million-square-foot project at Hill being developed through an enhanced use lease, Mayfield said.